Speciation of arsenic and mercury in feed: why and how?

Rikke Susanne Vingborg Hedegaard, Jens Jørgen Sloth

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The understanding of the mechanisms of biological activities and biotransformation of trace elements such as arsenic and mercury has improved during recent years with the help of chemical speciation studies. However, the most important practical application of elemental speciation is in the area of toxicology. Toxicological knowledge on the individual trace element species can lead to more specific legislation of hazardous substances found in feed. Examples here are arsenic, where the inorganic forms are the most toxic, and mercury, where the organic form methylmercury is more toxic than inorganic mercury. In the present paper an overview of the current knowledge on arsenic and mercury speciation in feed and analytical methodologies for arsenic and mercury speciation analysis are given. Additionally the current status and expected future developments within legislation for trace element speciation in feed as well as initiatives for the establishment of standardized methods for determination of inorganic arsenic and methylmercury are presented.
Original languageEnglish
JournalBiotechnologie, Agronomie, Société et Environnement
Volume15
Issue numberS1
Pages (from-to)45-51
ISSN1370-6233
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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